Album stream: Bryce Dessner and Kronos Quartet - Aheym

Larry Ryan

Larry Ryan is Deputy Editor of The Independent Magazine. He has previously worked on the Home News desk and the website of The Independent and he writes the "Caught in the Net" music column for the paper's arts magazine, Radar.

Bryce Dessner is best known as the guitarist with the much-loved art-rock band The National, but over the last few years he has steadily been carving out another branch to his career in modern composition and contemporary classical music - and the various other nebulous terms that are used to describe such music.

He's performed on record and in concert with his experimental
group, Clogs, and with classical great Steve Reich.

He's also has had his own compositions performed in halls around
the world. About two years ago I saw the renowned Kronos Quartet
perform one of his pieces - "Tenebre" - in London: it was a
gorgeous piece of restrained post-minimalist music for strings and
voices.

After the concert I searched for a recorded version but to no
avail - now happily, it's been put on tape in Dessner's first
release of compositions made with the aforementioned Kronos
Quartet. With four distinct pieces, Aheym, out on Monday, is really rather beautiful and is
streaming below.

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